"Where else within 30 miles of downtown New Orleans can the view be like this?"

The land under Tab Damiens' feet used to rest under the waves of Lake Pontchartrain. Once nothing more than eroded coastline formed of gnarled roots, natural debris and incoming waves at high tide, this Mandeville property has undergone significant change over recent years.

A series of reclamation and building projects has resulted in what is now one of the more dramatic and beautiful home sites on the north shore.

For Damiens, it's all about the view.

"Where else within 30 miles of downtown New Orleans can the view be like this?" he asked, pointing toward a huge backdrop of azure sky and -- at least at that moment, tame waters -- to the rear of his property. "From now until about the end of March, the sun sets right over the lake. The way the sun sets, it's just absolutely incredible."

Damiens and his wife, Lourdes, have been shaping the land and the structures on it for years.

"I bought this property in 1994, knowing that we wanted to move here," said Damiens, the co-owner of Diversified Foods in Metairie. "It was eroded coastline, so we couldn't build on it. Where we are standing right now was water. We had to do a reclamation project, which basically involved bulkhead and fill."

The process - which he describes as "long and arduous" -- took about five years to complete.

In 2001, the Damiens family moved to their new home after 16 months of construction. Both natives of New Orleans, the couple wanted to live within view of the lake but also within easy reach of south shore.

For all its beauty, the lake, though, presents serious flooding issues. Over the years, the couple has continued to improve their Mandeville property. They recently undertook a new project that more than doubled the land in their backyard.

"After experiencing all the storm surges and damage, we knew if we built a little larger buffer, we could at least break the wave action out there as opposed to breaking it right here," Damiens said, pointing to the spot where the original bulkhead was installed. "This affords us a little more of a buffer."

The land dredge and fill process -- guided by the Clean Water Act and monitored and approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers -- allowed the family to "take back" land that had, over the decades, ceded itself to the waves through a combination of erosion and subsidence.

"I applied for a permit to do this (latest) reclamation project in 2010 or 2011, and it took a year and a half," Damiens said. "You are basically reclaiming lake bottom ... it's your right to reclaim it."

On the lake, open water is considered property of the state, and a homeowner must turn the area back into land, as Damiens has done, in order to claim ownership, which can still possibly be challenged by the Corps during the process.

Sometimes -- thankfully, only during hurricanes and tropical storms -- the lake refuses to comply with the family's wishes and rolls right back in to where it was in 1994. During Hurricane Katrina, the home's living area, which sits on pilings at approximately 18Â½ feet above sea level, did not flood. The yard, patio and utility areas, however, were under 13 to 14 feet of brackish surge.

Damiens found the "breakaway walls" installed surrounding his ground-level utility and parking areas functioned as designed. Katrina's winds and surge took down the walls, which were framed as panels designed to come down whole rather than in pieces, and Damiens was able to put them back into service.

After the storm, the family made additional improvements, including the installation of a pool and hot tub. The saltwater pool sits in the shadow of a free-standing stucco fireplace, a strong focal point for the rear yard.

A 200-foot pier on the lake is another recent addition.

"Right now, we live on the water, but when you walk out on that pier, it's a completely different feeling," Damiens said. "When we get a north wind, and the water's really calm, you can see right to the bottom. I wouldn't want to go so far as to say it's Caribbean-like, but it gives you the feeling, because you can see all the way through."

The "boathouse" structure at the end of the pier has a mini-lighthouse design on top, while lighting underneath the hand rails imparts a warm glow. Rafters jutting out from the roof were carved to resemble a rustic row of fish.

"I have three girls, so they're not the big fishing type, but we do come out here and wet a line every once in a while. And you can catch some beautiful blue crabs out here," said Damiens, who adds, laughing, "I have probably 2,000 sunset pictures that I've taken over the years."

In consideration of storms, the newly sodded property is not heavily landscaped.

"After years of going through re-landscaping jobs, we found out the things that really survive, and palm trees do really well because of the root system," Damiens said, pointing toward a line of palms next to the lakeside tennis court to the right of the home.

The kitchen, which features custom cabinetry and cobblestone brick floors, is open on two sides, allowing for easy traffic flow and conversation with family in adjacent spaces. The "highlight" of the kitchen is, literally, the light itself: illuminated Art Nouveau stained-glass panels. Purchased at auction in Atlanta, the panels were shipped here and reassembled into a light fixture by a local craftsman.

"They didn't have any paperwork on it, but the guy who put it together for us said he could tell from the way it was welded that it was probably from the early 1900s," Damiens said.

As dramatic as the interior is, the Damiens spend much of their time enjoying the exterior, both from indoors and out. There are many places from which to take in the home's waterfront view: from the wall of windows that span the back of the house, from the rear balcony, the ground-level patio, even the kitchen window. It appears, though, that the addition of the new pier makes it a recent locus of family enjoyment. "Since it's been built, we just come out and sit on the swing and let the afternoon waste away," Damiens said.